Addressing Microaggressions: The Next Step in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy for Businesses

Diversity in the United States has been steadily increasing. Both in the workforce and the customer base, people are more diverse, in ethnicity, gender, age, culture, beliefs, politics, and in many other ways. Savvy businesses understand that diversity is good for business: Bianca Miller Cole, writing in Forbes, reports that businesses with more diverse workforces have many advantages over non-diverse businesses, including:

1. A workplace filled with diverse employees (backgrounds, skills, experiences, and knowledge) leads to more innovation and creative ideas.
2. Diverse employees bring broader perspectives to the table when brainstorming, problem-solving, and developing new business processes.
3. Employees will be more satisfied and engaged in their work.
4. Productivity will increase through an improved exchange of ideas and a more accepting work culture.
5. Your employees will understand and relate to your diverse customer base.
6. Businesses that encourage diversity and inclusion will have more talent to choose from, and therefore, it will be easier for them to find the right person for the job.
7. Diversity and inclusion may lead to higher revenue, brand loyalty, and more favorable business results.

However, after hiring that diverse workforce, HR’s job is not done. The next step is to remove microaggressions from the workplace that negatively impact employees and customers. Psychologist Derald W. Sue defines microaggression as “The everyday slights, indignities, put-downs, and insults that people of color, women, LGBTQ+ populations, or those who are marginalized experience in their day-to-day interactions with people. Microaggressions often appear to be a compliment or a joke but contain a hidden insult about a group of people (as in complimenting an Asian-American person’s English, or when a lesbian is told, “You don’t look like you’re gay!”)” Microaggressions can also carry into the employee-customer experience, producing a negative impact on the business.

Recognizing microaggressions in the workplace is difficult because they are often not perceived as prejudiced and harmful interactions. Again, according to Sue, microaggressions are based on some of the same implicit biases and prejudicial ideas about people who are minorities or are marginalized in the United States. However, microaggressions are a little different from overt acts or comments because they typically don’t have any negative intent or hostility behind them. Medical News Today reports how Sue defines three categories of microaggression:

• Microassaults: When a person intentionally behaves in a discriminatory way while not intending to be offensive. An example of a microassault is a person telling a racist joke and then saying, “I was just joking.”
• Microinsults: A comment or action that is unintentionally discriminatory. For example, this could be a person saying to an Indian doctor, “Your people must be so proud.”
• Microinvalidations: When a person’s comment invalidates or undermines the experiences of a certain group of people. An example of a microinvalidation would be a white person telling a black person that “racism does not exist in today’s society.”

Additionally, microaggressions are much less likely to be reported to managers and Human Resources, but that does not mean they do not happen. A 2018 Women in the Workplace report found that 64% of women have experienced microaggression in the workplace. “Even worse is the fact that non-white women experience it more often. While 36% of all women have had their judgment questioned, this kind of microaggression increased when the women were black, with up to 40% of black women experiencing it. On the other hand, 27% of men had their judgment questioned, and only 16% of them had to prove their competency in the workplace.” Expert Sarah Morgan describes microaggressions as “papercuts. You’re not necessarily openly wounded, but it still hurts. People who do not fit into the power groups…may experience microaggressions several times during their workday. Imagine going through life getting multiple paper cuts every single day for the 40+ years of your career.”

While microaggressions may not be highly visible, the extent and danger of microaggressions in your company can be uncovered by employee research. This kind of employee research can be challenging, as employees are unlikely to participate honestly and candidly about such a sensitive subject. Therefore, you must use an experienced, outside marketing research firm to ensure objectivity, with the strictest confidentiality and data privacy. Through an online survey, your research partner can show you where you are most vulnerable to microaggressions. You will learn how much of a problem microaggression is at your company, which employee groups are being impacted, and which departments and locations are responsible so that training and coaching can be put in place with specific managers to address the problem.

It is time to go beyond diversity training. We have been doing that for years and microaggressions are still hurting most U.S. businesses. It is time to uncover where microaggressions lie within your company and work with your employees to solve any issues. Rooting out microaggression in the workplace will take time, but it starts with knowing the extent and sources of your business’s current microaggression problem.

Zeitgeist Research has a proven approach to measure microaggression in your workplace that can tell you the extent of the problem, who is being impacted, and where it’s happening. Can you afford not to know?